arms.
I can't believe what just happened.
Sirens approach as he kisses me. "God. I hated that."
"It's okay. We're okay."
"Yeah."
Firemen and police arrive with sirens blaring, but I'm numb. They climb down the slope to put out the fire.
After twenty minutes, they pull her burned body from the Land Cruiser and cover it with a blanket.
Mace kisses me again. "I was so fucking worried."
"I didn't know if you guys were here."
"I was here. Cutter was right behind me."
"That was too close."
"You're okay now. You're safe."
Chapter 21 Shopping
Mace
A week after the ordeal with Diablo and Giselle, Lola continues to impress me. She handled all the fall-out like a pro. She had to interact with her counterparts at SFPD, and seeing her in her professional role for the first time confirmed what I already knew. Lola has a spine of steel. She doesn't crack under pressure, and she knows who she is. Her strong sense of justice guides her every decision, and she takes the law seriously, at least in front of her peers and superiors at the police department.
Lola ends the call with her captain and presses her lips together.
"What did she say?"
"Diablo's been transferred to the DEA." She speaks curtly and precisely, but emotion simmers in her eyes. She looks away when she senses me trying to read her.
"This is good news. He'll probably sing to get a reduced sentence. You've done a good thing." She's shown no sign of guilt or regret for sending Diablo to prison or Giselle to visit the devil, so why is she hesitating now? Delayed reaction?
"I'm going shopping." Her knuckles turn white as she rubs her hands together.
"Okay." I stand up and grab my keys.
"What're you doing?" She stares at my keys in my hand.
"I'll take you."
"It's just shopping. I can do it alone. You'll be bored."
"Babe. You just got off the phone with SFPD, a vein is popping in your temple, and your voice is strung out. I'm coming with you on your shopping trip."
She looks around like she's misplaced something. "Um. Okay."
All this is suspicious from a woman I'd trust with my life. "You gonna tell me what this is really about?"
She jets around the room, grabbing her shoes, a purse, a jacket and stumbles to the door. "Right now I'm going shopping. That's all I can tell you. If you're coming, let's go. I'll drive."
"I'm driving."
"I need to drive." She spins and growls at me like a caged lion. "I need to drive my Maserati. Fast. If you're coming, be prepared to buckle in and shut up."
I chuckle and push my keys into the pocket of my jeans. I walk over to her and kiss her temple, but she remains stiff. "If you need to work off something, we can do that right here without breaking the speed limit. I'm fully able and willing to let you take this out on me." I raise my arms and look down my body.
Her gaze follows mine down to my shoes. On the way back up, she stops to stare at my junk, her eyes turning hot. Her tongue juts out and swipes her lower lip, but her shoulders are still up to her ears. "Later." She shakes her head to break the hypnotic power of my dick through my pants. "Right now I need to drive and go shopping. Then I'll take it out on you."
I have to laugh at how she's making elaborate plans to deal with whatever's stressing her out instead of just doing what feels right to get it out. "We could fix this all right now with a good hour in my bed, but if you need to shop and drive first, I'm okay with that."
"You're confusing me, Mace."
"You're overthinking this."
"No. No. Because if we stop and have sex right now, I'll still need to go shopping afterward. It won't fix this. So shopping, driving, then monkey sex."
"Sounds like a plan." I smile and wrap an arm around her waist as we walk out of my cabin. "Whatever you need, my love."
She gasps and looks up at me. That's the first time the L word has come out of my mouth around her. I just grin down at her. I said it. Deal with it. She's going to be hearing a lot more about love from me very soon, so she'd better get used to it.
***
After a hair-raising cruise in the Maserati, we end up parked in front of Fantasy Island Adult Gifts in Sacramento. "A sex shop?"
"Yep. This is perfect."
"We